perfection of a kind is what he was after
by wild wolf free17
Summary: drabbles about Shawn
1. Behind the Tree

**Title**: Behind the Tree the hands of Eve and Adam meet

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; just for fun. Title from Denise Levertov.

**Warnings**: spoilers for season three finale

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 260

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Notes**: after three years, I FINALLY WROTE A "Psych" FIC

* * *

_It was too easy_.

The thought wakes him at noon the day after catching Mr/Mrs/What-the-fuck-ever Yang: _It was too easy_.

He'd known it in the car when she handed over the detonator, when she let the cops cuff her, when she grinned as they drove away.

So when he gets the call at one in the afternoon—_she's escaped, Shawn, be on the lookout_—it comes as no surprise.

He gently put the phone back on the cradle, sure that some guards would've already been sent to Mom and Dad, Gus and Abigail.

But Yang(what is her real name? He should find that out) won't go after them. They're not the ones she wants. She's too smart.

Besides, he knows where to go.

She's waiting for him with a black Oldsmobile. "Will you leave them all alone?" he asks.

She smiles. "I knew you'd gotten bored playing for the good guys," she says.

He repeats, "Will you leave them alone?"

Nodding, she pats the passenger seat. "C'mon, Shawn. We'll have fun all over the world, if we want."

She's insane. She took his mother.

But she didn't kill anyone. Notorious serial killer, half a dozen kills over ten years... so why didn't anyone die this time?

"You were courting me," he realizes, letting himself fall into the car. "Holy shit."

She laughs and starts the car as he shuts the door. "We'll have fun," she says again. "Won't we, Shawnie?"

He stares at her. "I don't even know your name."

Her smile is terrifying. "Call me Bonnie."


	2. Weep all the paths where we walked

**Title**: Weep all the paths where we walked together  
**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Gilgamesh.

**Warnings**: somewhat sad

**Pairings**: none stated

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 125

**Point of view**: third

* * *

_C'mon, Shawn_, he says that first day. _This isn't funny anymore_.

The second day, he tries bribes and pleading.

The third, he's angry and pulls out threats, all the things he's been witness to over the years.

The fourth day, he spends in the chapel and doesn't go to see Shawn.

On the fifth, he reviews everything the police have, and what Shawn had dug up, information found legally and not.

The sixth day, he reads to Shawn aloud, a cookbook about pineapple. Shawn's dad stops by and listens silently for a little while. He leaves as quietly as he came.

Day seven, he says, _Please, Shawn. Please wake up now_.

It rains the eighth day. Lassiter shoots the man responsible and Gus whispers, _Goodbye_.


	3. the last lie

**Title**: the last lie

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: character death

**Rating**: PG

**Pairings**: implied Shawn/Gus

**Wordcount**: 260

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Shawn/any or none, he's told 5012 lies by the time he dies

* * *

He remembers the first lie he ever told, of course, a little boy thing, _I'm not tired, Mommy, I can stay up with you._

All the rest came just that easy, too. Small, miniscule, unimportant. Nothing. Older he got, more elaborate the lies got, until he was a psychic. He was a psychic saving people and stopping crime, lying nearly every minute of the day.

Gus told him it'd come back to bite him in his lily-white ass, and it was the truth, too.

Some people don't like being found out in their lies, like Mr. Jumpy Trigger Finger, here, his barrel pointed right between Shawn's eyes.

And no one knows Shawn is here, of course. It wasn't supposed to be anything--Shawn just needed to see the crime-scene again, try to see whatever he missed with Gus wilting next to him, gasping for air because of all the blood, and Lassiter breathing down his neck.

It wasn't supposed to be anything, but the killer did come back. And now he's glaring at Shawn over the big-ass gun in his hand, and Shawn, maybe he really is psychic. Because he knows—_knows_—how this will play out.

His mind cycles through all the lies he's told, and he wishes he could tell Gus how sorry he is for all the grief Shawn's put him through. Let Dad know that he loves him.

He can remember every lie he's told, but he stops counting as Jumpy Trigger Finger becomes Shawn-Killer, and he whispers, "Gus, you'll be fine without me."


	4. two of a kind

**Title**: two of a kind

**Fandom**: White Collar/Psych

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: none

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG

**Wordcount**: 105

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: White Collar/Psych, Peter/Neal & Shawn/Lassiter, similar boyfriends

* * *

"Peter seems like a lot of fun," Shawn says to Neal, while handing over some of Neal's money for their pineapple smoothies.

Neal grins, snatching some cash from Shawn's pocket to replace the funds. "About as much fun as your guard-dog over there, Shawnie."

Peter keeps his eyes on Shawn and Neal; Lassiter's gaze rotates between all entrances and exits.

And Gus just sighs, knowing that no matter how careful the good lawmen were, Neal and Shawn will wreak some havoc and he—like always—will have to clean up the mess.

He really hates it when any buddy from Shawn's travels shows up.


	5. We weep together

**Title**: We weep together and make a bed of the rain

**Disclaimer**: not my characters; title from Anne Sexton

**Warnings**: takes place after season 4

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 230

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Notes**: for fairiekween13—here is the lament of GusGus.

* * *

Shawn has never actively disliked guns. His father taught him to use them, to respect them, and after the little boy excitement faded, he didn't care about them either way. Guns were simply a tool.

When he was older, after starting his career as a fake psychic, Shawn told Gus that guns were for those who couldn't reason their way out of trouble. And, he said, he didn't need a gun. He could bluff his way out of anything.

Then Yang happened. Then Yin. And in between, Shawn got shot. The bad guys weren't playing by the rules.

So Shawn took Gus to a firing range and taught him to use a gun.

"I know," Shawn said quietly, "that you hate weapons." His touch and his voice both wept for the last of Gus' innocence. Gus listened to Shawn and followed his commands without complaint, and that was Shawn's absolution.

Gus didn't go with Shawn the day he applied for and got his gun license or his concealed permit.

Shawn began carrying and Gus wished they could be kids again, in a world without guns, a time when Shawn had never felt a bullet and Gus had never wondered if today would be when Shawn died.

It's not a game anymore and Gus prays everyday because Shawn won't back down, and in his most worried moments, Gus pieces together Shawn's eulogy.


	6. The hand that mocked them

**Title**: The hand that mocked them

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: preseries AU

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 260

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Shawn, He never came back to stay in Santa Barbara

* * *

Gus gets a postcard six years after Shawn takes off. The picture on the front is of a sunrise over the water. On the back, the address is in Georgia. The handwriting is Shawn's, and the message is simply, _come find me._

Gus has missed Shawn, but there are responsibilities he can't shake. He puts the postcard on the fridge.

o0o

Ten years after Shawn takes off, two FBI agents visit Gus at his apartment. They ask him questions about Shawn, about Shawn's childhood, his attitude, his capabilities, and his plans for the future.

Gus explains that he knew Shawn a decade ago and hasn't seen him since.

One of the agents pulls the postcard off his fridge and asks if they can keep it.

Gus wants to say no, but doesn't.

o0o

Ten and a half years after Shawn takes off, he gets another postcard. The image on the front is of a skull-and-crossbones. The address on the back is blacked out and Shawn's message is scrawled in red ink.

_I wish you'd been my first mate._

Gus places it in the pages of his senior yearbook, marking Shawn's quote-_My name is Ozymandias, king of kings. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair._

At the time, it'd been a joke between them. Now, Gus wonders if it was a warning.

o0o

The FBI comes back and Gus answers all their questions.

He knows it won't help.

The Shawn he can provide knowledge about died a long time ago. The Shawn they're after is his killer. And Gus doesn't know either of them anymore.


	7. all the trembling bells of you were mine

Title: all the trembling bells of you were mine

Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Anne Sexton

Warnings: mentions of violence; depressing stuff

Pairings: none

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 185

Point of view: third

Prompt: any, any, here's to the night we felt alive

* * *

Gus sleeps in the chair next to Shawn's bed for the six weeks it takes Shawn to wake up. Henry visits every day, Jules every other, and Lassiter once.

Gus reads novels aloud, and magazines, and the phone book. He talks about the movies they'll need to see, and the job he doesn't mention he's lost because of the weeks he's missed, and comic plotlines he doesn't agree with.

Gus eats in the cafeteria, or the food Henry and Jules bring, and changes into the clothes Henry drops off every week, and he doesn't leave the hospital. He knows that if he does, Shawn will never wake up.

Gus has worried about Shawn for most of their lives. Shawn is reckless, and so courageous - he's the best man Gas has ever met, even though Shawn won't ever believe that.

Gus gave his statement to Lassiter, and Lassiter promised to catch the man who beat Shawn into a coma.

Gus should've been there.

Gus wasn't.

Gus sleeps in the chair next to Shawn's bed for six weeks, and he's the first thing Shawn sees when he wakes up.


End file.
